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“You mean the one stolen from the man you’ve had killed?” I ask, but my fingers reach for my neck where the delicate flower usually burns my skin. I find the pendant missing and glance around the room as if it might be lying around somewhere.
“You’ve lost it.”
“No, I took it off,” I rush to answer. I’m not willing to admit my weakness to Rev. Even if it’s a loss of a simple trinket.
“I’ll get you another one.” Rev motions at the last door. “We’re going to find my men, first. And get a ride back to The Shadow City.”
“I’m not going back,” I croak.
“I wouldn’t be so willing to test the emperor’s patience. Or mine.”
I clutch the keys in my hand, taking one step at a time, stretching the last moments of freedom for as long as I can, but we still reach the door. With the key in the lock, a curse makes me turn around.
Rebels drops from the disguised hole in the roof. They’re all wearing their masks to hide their features, but I recognize Valdus’s wide shoulders, Lev’s scrawny figure, Priya’s brown hair, and even Numair with the golden hoop in his ear.
Before Rev can react, Valdus punches him in the face. It sends him stumbling back, but Rev recovers before Lev and Priya can grab him. The barrel of the revolver raised up high, it points straight at the rebels.
“Stop,” I cry out.
Rev throws me a fleeting glance, but turns back to the rebels advancing toward him. He shoots at Lev, but the bullet flies past the boy and wedges itself deep into the wall next to his head. Still, Lev ducks, covering his head.
I wouldn’t think Rev ever missed a shot, but I can’t chance that the next bullet won’t land in one of the rebels’ hearts.
“Rev, stop. I’ll come with you.” Just don’t hurt them, I want to add, but I can’t show him even a speck of care for the people that had saved my life. Not when the next man I’ll face will be my father.
Rev only throws me a smirk before pulling the trigger again.
The bullet never leaves the barrel. With a cloud of powder and a loud bang, the revolver explodes in Rev's hand, leaving him reeling. He blinks a few times, rubs his face where the shrapnel of the exploded barrel has cut his skin, but before he can come to his senses, the other rebels grab his wrists and bend his arms behind his back. Rev struggles under their restraint, but a week without food left him feebler than he must have been once. With one last punch from Priya, he finally slips into unconsciousness.
Snatching the keys from my hand, Valdus throws them to Priya. “No one goes inside. No one. Not until we’ve dealt with this mess.”
The girl nods and turns to the other rebels, motioning toward the empty cell. “What are you waiting for? Come on, bring him inside.”
Valdus removes his mask, lifts my chin, and looks at the wound on my neck. He pulls me out of the house without a word.
“Where are we going?”
Valdus doesn’t answer, but keeps marching across town. I snatch his arm, tugging on the metal, but I’m not sure he can feel it. He certainly doesn’t stop, and I give up as soon as I recognize the path.
“I’m sorry, Valdus. I didn’t know it was Rev who hurt Numair, and not the other way around.”
Valdus still doesn’t answer as we walk up the last steps and into the house.
Light from kerosene lamps and a dozen candles set on every surface brightens the kitchen. The smell of alcohol hangs in the air, tangled with the copper tinge of blood.
Numair lifts his gaze from his shredded arm where Inara is taking shards of ceramic out of the wounds. He narrows his eyes when he sees the wound on my neck.
“Could you have a look?” Valdus asks, motioning in my direction.
Inara lifts her gaze to me, her eyes spotting blood in an instant. “What happened?”
“Rev happened,” Valdus answers before I can.
Inara beckons me closer and picks up a fresh piece of gauze to clean the blood from my neck. I’ve already healed the wound. An ache pulsing with the fast beat of my heart is the only thing left.
“It’s just a scratch,” she says and returns to tending the ragged cuts on Numair’s arm.
She picks up a pair of forceps and removes a shard of ceramic dripping with blood.
